Del Fin
by Mooose
Summary: It was the operation they've all been waiting for: Del fin for SD-6. My first ALIAS fic, written after seeing 5 episodes of the series. S/V, please review!


Disclaimer: I do not own Alias. No profit is being made from this.  Similarities with real life and/or fictional events are purely coincidental...

**Moose says: **This is my first ALIAS fic. I hope you tell me what you think of it.  I welcome both raves and rants.  

**About the title:** "Del Fin" in Spanish literally translates to "The End."

Del Fin 

****

**_By Moose_**

****

****

Sydney Bristow ran and ran and ran.  Corridor after corridor, floor after floor, she ran away from it all with the speed and agility of a gazelle.  Tears threatened to fall, but she fought the urge to cry.  She couldn't break down, not just yet.  She suddenly remembered that she was still clutching the disk, that precious disk, and she stopped running suddenly and hastily tucked it in her pouch.  Her stop, brief as it was, was long enough for her legs to realize that they're tired and that she won't be able run as far and as fast as she wants to.

But she needed to get out.  She needed to bring the disk to safety, or else all the lives that were put in danger, all the lives that were lost for this whole mess, would have been for naught.  And she couldn't allow that to happen.  Not when one of those lives belonged to the one man who had been with her throughout her life.

She rounded a corner and came face to face with a trio of guards.  Her survival instincts kicking in immediately, Sydney quickly sent the first one flying backwards.  He hit the person right behind him, taking him down with him.  The third guard tried to hit Sydney, but her heel caught him in mid section first.  With the wind knocked out of him, Sydney sent him to dream land with a swift chop.  With the other two still tangled, she lithely jumped over them and ran once again.

Finally, she arrived at the exit.  Turning the handle, the door wouldn't budge.  "Oh, come on!" Sydney cried.  Looking about her swiftly, she saw a fire extinguisher.  Grabbing it, she looked quickly behind her before using the fire extinguisher to freeze the door's handle.  Just when she was felt that it was enough, she heard shouts behind her.   Quickly, she set down the fire extinguisher and tried the doorknob once again.  This time, it broke and the door swung open.  Darting outside, Sydney glanced behind her and saw several guards running towards her.  She ran into the rain, into the darkness, into the safety of the cold night.

*****

"Sydney! Sydney, listen to – damn it!" Michael Vaughn cried, pounding his fist on the table in frustration.  "Do we have a visual of her?" he demanded.

"No, she's still in the building," Weiss replied.  "She turned off her comm link?"

Vaughn nodded, still wearing the headset.  "But I'm keeping the channel open.  Does Jack have his comm link with him?"

"Yes, but his wasn't supposed to be turned on," Weiss said.  "If everything's going according to plan, he should have disposed of Sloan by now and is on his way out with Sydney. Why'd she turn it off?"

"She wants to switch to SD-6 frequency to try to contact Dixon," Vaughn said.  He looked at his best friend, not anymore bothering to hide his worry.  "She wants to save him."

"And she will," Weiss said, although he's not so sure about it.  "Mike, she'll be okay."

"I don't feel good about this, Eric," Vaughn confessed.  "I wish I could just go there and –" Vaughn was stopped by the ringing of the phone.

"Hold that thought," Weiss interrupted as he answered the phone.  Vaughn silently waited, his thoughts lost in worry.  Tonight had been the night he had been waiting for. After several years, the CIA finally gotten enough information to warrant this SD-6 raid.  It was going to be a worldwide operation, with all the SD-6 branches being simultaneously raided by the various CIA operatives.  Sydney and her father Jack Bristow, who were both instrumental in bringing SD-6 down, were major players in this operation, and both were part of the team assigned to take down the headquarters.  However, everything that could have gone wrong did.  Moments before the attack, the SD-6 amazingly intercepted a message from the CIA headquarters to one of the teams.  With only an hour before the raid, SD-6 had assembled an astonishingly remarkable counter-attack.  Still, the CIA has aces in Sydney and Jack, and so it was decided that the operation would push through.

So they attacked SD-6. The raids all over the world were simultaneous and in two hours, the headquarters were beginning to receive messages of success from all points of the world.  Sao Paolo was the first, quickly followed by Capetown, Manila and Vladivostok.  Then they began pouring in: SD-6 in Hong Kong was down, with Reykjavik, Abu Dhabi, London, Kuala Lumpur, Cairo and Amsterdam falling all at the same time.

But at the headquarters in Los Angeles, the CIA was not finding it as easy as their more remote counterparts did.  Vaughn waited for Sydney to tune in to CIA frequency, and when she did, the news was not good.  She knew that Sloan knows about her.  Vaughn told her to go invisible then, and Sydney obeyed, knowing that the success of the operation in LA depended on her now.  She unobtrusively went to do her mission: to get a full list of SD-6 agents.  She managed to do that, but just as she was taking the disk, Sloan busted her.  Good thing Jack was there to save her.  He then ordered Sydney to leave, and she left, not knowing what was going to happen to him and Sloan.  Vaughn had to talk to her to prevent her from going back, asking her to let Jack do his work.  Their senior officer told her likewise, borrowing the mic from Vaughn and sternly ordered her to deliver the disk to the CIA.

Sydney was on her way out when she decided she couldn't leave without telling the truth to her friend Dixon.  Vaughn tried to change her mind, but Sydney turned off the comm link instead.  He sighed now, wondering what in the world had happened to her.

"Mike, get your coat," Weiss's voice brought him back to reality.

"Huh?" Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "Sydney might turn her comm link back on."

"Turn that over to Jerry," Weiss said, nodding to one of the agents in the room.  "I've just been told that we should get our asses to the SD-6 headquarters."

Vaughn immediately removed his headset then, handing it to the agent next to him. Agent Jerry Watson nodded and put it on.  "I'll call you or Agent Weiss if something important comes up."

"Thanks," Vaughn replied, rushing after Weiss.  Soon they were speeding towards the SD-6 headquarters.

*****

Sydney did not know how long she had been half-walking half-running in the cold rain.  Her tears were freely falling now, with the rain washing them away.  Her clothes were all wet, but she was sure the disk was safe within her water-proof pouch.  Every now and then she pauses and glances back, just to assure herself that no one's following her.  She knew they had given up going after her once the CIA helicopter had captured them in its light.

Sydney spied a 7-11 on the corner of the block where she was.  She picked up her pace and rushed towards the store, not caring if she stepped on puddles.  Once inside, she managed to give an apologetic smile to the clerk, and headed towards one of the store's corners.  There, with a puddle of water forming at her feet, she reached inside her pocket for a slip of paper that her father had handed to her just before they separated.

_Sydney,_

_Should something happen and you need to run, go to this address.  You'll be safe there, and the man who lives there will know how to get in touch with me.  That is, if you still want to see me after all this._

_Love, _

_Dad_

Sydney felt new tears streaking down her face.  Although she felt betrayed by her dad many times in the past, she knew he really loves her and would do anything to keep her away from harm.  She didn't want to leave him back there with Sloan, but he had reminded her of the value of the disk she possesses.  

_"I'll wait for you, I'll help you take him out," Sydney argued._

_"No, that is no longer your mission," Jack shook his head vehemently.  "You have to focus on your mission, otherwise this whole thing might fail."_

_"But Dad, I can't just leave you here alone with him," Sydney cried.  _

_"Go, Sydney," Jack ordered.  "Sloan knows about you; but I still have his trust. You have to go now."_

_"Dad!"_

_He handed her a folded piece of paper. "Go to this address, Sydney.  Go now."_

_Sydney surprised him when she hugged him.  "I'm sorry for everything, Dad."_

_"Oh, Sydney," Jack said softly as he embraced her back.  "It's okay."_

_"I'm sorry, I really am," Sydney said.  She looked at him.  "I really love you, Dad."_

_"I love you too," Jack replied, kissing her forehead.  "Now, you go and do as I say."_

_Sydney nodded and stepped away from him.  Without any other word, she turned and walked away from him._

Sydney quickly memorized the address.  She pushed the paper back in her pocket, and hurried out of the store.  Tired and cold as she was, she rushed back into the rain, towards the safe place her father found for her.

*****

"What's going on?" Vaughn asked as he and Weiss rush towards the group of armed CIA operative.  An ambulance was waiting nearby.

"We have an agent down," one of the men replied.

"Oh God," Vaughn whispered.  _Please don't let it be Sydney._

Just then, a pair of paramedics exited the building with a stretcher between them.  Vaughn held his breath as they approached him.  When they were several meters away from him, he realized that it wasn't Sydney, but he wasn't relieved with what he saw.

"Oh no, it's Jack," Vaughn exclaimed, he and Weiss rushing over to the stretcher.  Jack was still alive, but he was intubated and his breathing was being supported.

"We need to take him to the hospital, sir," one of the paramedics informed him.

"How is he?" Vaughn asked.

"He was stabbed at the back and shot at the leg and abdomen," the paramedic replied.  "He lost a lot of blood and I think several organs are injured.  I'm sorry, sir, it doesn't look good.  We have to leave now."  Vaughn nodded and watched the paramedics put Jack in the ambulance.  Soon they were speeding towards the nearest hospital.

"Sloan did it," a voice from behind him said.  Vaughn and Weiss turned around and found themselves face to face with a tired-looking black man.  "Sydney had warned me about Sloan, and I was looking for Jack to confirm everything.  I found him and Sloan fighting, and saw Sloan stab him then shoot him. Twice."

"Dixon?" Weiss asked.

The man nodded.  "Are you Agent Vaughn?"

"No, I'm Agent Weiss, this is Agent Vaughn," Weiss explained.  "Where's Sydney?"

"You mean, she isn't with you yet?"

Vaughn's heart sank.  _Sydney, what happened to you?_  "No, the last time we talked she told me she was going to you."

"She said she had to go, and that I should look for you.  I thought she was going to report to you," Dixon said, himself feeling uneasy.  He looked Vaughn, who was looking more distraught with every passing minute.  

Weiss was also looking at Vaughn with concern.  This is turning out to be a nightmare.  "I'll go take Dixon back to headquarters," he said.  "You want to wait for Syd here, Mike?"

Vaughn nodded.  "I'll catch up with you later," he said.  Weiss nodded and escorted Dixon to his car.  

"Any news?" Vaughn asked the agent he was speaking to moments ago.

"None, sir," he shook his head.  "We have almost secured this place, so we'll know soon which agents are still inside."

Just then, Vaughn's phone rang.  "Vaughn."

"Mr. Vaughn, this is Dr. Williams.  I'm treating Mr. Jack Bristow –"

"Is anything wrong?" Vaughn interrupted, a feeling of dread enveloping him.

"Well, he's had a lot of injuries, but, " Vaughn held his breath as the doctor paused.  "But he was asking for you."

"Asking for me?"

"Wrote your name and number on a piece of paper.  He was weak but slightly agitated, and he demanded that we get you here."

"All right, I'm on my way," Vaughn replied.  He wanted to wait there for Sydney, but Jack's running out of time.  Ending the call, he approached an agent and borrowed a car.  Soon he was at the hospital.

Vaughn searched the busy E.R. and soon found Jack.  A doctor was at his bedside.

"Dr. Williams?"

"Yes, you're Mr. Vaughn I presume?"

Vaughn nodded.  Dr. Williams motioned him closer.  Jack then opened his eyes.

"Hello Mr. Bristow," Vaughn smiled shakily.  

Jack motioned for a pen and paper.  Dr. Williams handed him a pad and a pen.  

_Sydney?_ Jack scribbled.

Vaughn tried to maintain his composure.  "We don't know yet.  She turned off her comm link and we still haven't heard from her."

_Please tell her where I am._

Vaughn nodded.  "Don't worry about it."

_Tell her I love her._

"Yes," Vaughn nodded again.  "I'll tell her that and bring her here."

Jack then let go of the pen and paper and closed his eyes.  Dr. Williams quickly sprung into action and all Vaughn could do was to stand back and let them do their work.

"We're going to have to do emergency surgery on him," Dr. Williams informed him.  "Can you contact his next of kin?"

"I will," Vaughn nodded.  "Do everything you can to save him."

"You have my word," Dr. Williams said.  "You'll be in the waiting room?"

Vaughn was about to disagree, but then changed his mind.  He couldn't leave Jack Bristow alone. "Yes."

"I'll see you after the surgery."

Vaughn nodded and headed to the waiting room, with the pad Jack had used in his hand.  He sat on one of the hard plastic chairs and, as he had done when Sydney was away on a mission, bowed his head and prayed.

*****

"Come on, please," Sydney muttered as she rang the bell for the 5th time.  Again, only the barking of the dog inside answered her.

She searched her pockets for her lock-picking tools, but to her dismay, she remembered having left them somewhere in the SD-6 headquarters.  Sighing, she searched the house for an open window, but she found none.  Besides, all the windows have grills, she couldn't get in that way.

Wearily, she went to the steps and sat down.  It had stopped raining, thank God, but it was still the middle of the night.  Sydney wrapped her arms around herself and tried not to think about what might have happened to Jack.  _He's fine, he made it back all right,_ she consoled herself.  Tired of crying and running, she rested her head on her knees and waited.

******

"Vaughn, go home," Weiss said as he shook his friend awake.

Vaughn groggily opened his eyes.  "Any news about Sydney?"

Weiss shook his head sadly.  "But I think you should go home.  You look like terrible."

"I can't," Vaughn disagreed.  "I need to know at least that Jack Bristow's going to be okay."

"He will be."

Vaughn and Weiss looked to their right to see Dr. Williams walking towards them.  He was smiling.  "That guy is a fighter."

Vaughn looked at the clock.  _Good Lord, had he really slept for 4 hours?_  "The surgery went fine, Dr. Williams?"

Dr. Williams nodded.  "Yes.  As a matter of fact, we finished everything in 2 hours.  Your friend was a lucky man, Mr. Vaughn.  The bullets missed major vessels and did minimal organ damage, while the knife did damage we can easily repair.  If you want to see him, you can go to his room now.  He should be coming out of anesthesia soon."

"That fast?" Weiss asked incredulously.  He and Vaughn stood up.

"I told you, he's a fighter, one tough guy," Dr. Williams smiled.  "This way."

Jack Bristow looked peaceful on his bed.  As Vaughn and Weiss entered the room, he opened his eyes and smiled at them.  Dr. Williams examined him a bit, and then decided that it was safe to remove the tube in his mouth.

"Thank you," Jack whispered.  "Michael, how's Sydney?"

"We haven't heard from her," Vaughn said, his tone full of worry.  "I—"

"Mike was at the waiting room the whole time you were in surgery, Mr. Bristow," Weiss cut in.  "Which was just as well.  The SD-6 headquarters self-destructed an hour ago."

"Why didn't someone tell me?" Vaughn demanded, immediately regretting his decision to stay in the hospital.  "Did anybody find Sydney?"

"Take it easy, Mike," Weiss said.  "No, they did not find Sydney.  But some of the SD-6 guards that we captured told us that they were chasing someone who fitted her description.  They said she went out of the building and disappeared."

"They didn't run after her?"

"They would've, but our chopper stopped them," Weiss said.  "Anyway, it looks like Sydney got away from this."

"Where could she have gone?" Vaughn thought aloud, thankful for this piece of information, but still worried.

"She'll be fine," Jack whispered.  "You two go get some rest.  I know where she is now."

"You do?" Vaughn was surprised.  "Where –"

"Mike, don't badger him," Weiss said gently.  "Do what he says.  We'll be on call for the next 36 hours, and you haven't slept in almost 48 hours. Go –"

"I slept for 4 freaking hours in the waiting room," Vaughn said, frustrated.  He wanted badly to do something to help find Sydney, but he didn't know what.

"She's fine," Jack told him again.  "Trust me on this."

Vaughn looked at him, then nodded.  "All right."

"Good, now I need the both of you to let Mr. Bristow rest," Dr. Williams cut in the conversation.

"We'll be leaving a guard, Mr. Bristow," Weiss said.  

"Thank you," Jack Bristow whispered with a weary smile.  "You two go home now."

They both nodded and went out of the room.  The agent assigned to guard Jack Bristow was already on a chair outside the room, and the two men acknowledged him before they headed for the elevators.

"Mike, promise me you'll get some rest," Weiss said seriously as he followed Vaughn to the car.  "And eat something too."

Vaughn nodded and gave him a small smile.  "Do you think he really knows where she is?"

"You said you're going to trust him, didn't you?" Weiss reminded him.  "You do that."

"It's not that I don't trust him, it's just that I'm –"

"in love with her and you don't know how you'll live without her," Weiss finished for him, smiling.  "Maybe you won't have to."

Vaughn smiled, not bothering to deny what his friend said.  "You call me if there's any news."

"I promise," Weiss said, grateful that Vaughn got in the car finally.  "Where will you be?"

"Home I guess," Vaughn said.  "Or at the office."

"Okay," Weiss nodded and tapped the car.  Vaughn then drove away, and Weiss headed back to his car.

******

Vaughn was still worried, despite what Jack Bristow said.  He decided to go home; too many things in his office would remind him of Sydney.  He drove lost in thought.

It was still dark when he got home.  Just as he was parking the car, he spied movement as a flurry of black seemed to head towards the side of his house.  He got his gun and cautiously got out of the car.  Silently, slowly, he walked towards the side.  

"You move, I'll shoot," he called, pointing the gun at the figure in black.

"Vaughn?" a weak but familiar voice replied.

Vaughn almost dropped his gun in relief.  "Sydney?" he asked in disbelief, putting his gun back in its holster.

Sydney stepped into the light, still damp from her run in the rain.  "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," Vaughn answered, moving closer to her.  "Are you okay?" he asked, putting both hands on her shoulder.

"I –" Sydney began but failed to continue as she finally let her defenses down for the first time in this stressful night.  A sob escaped her lips and before she could say or do anything else, Vaughn pulled her close.  She sagged against him as he let her cry.

"I'm sorry," Sydney finally said as she pulled back a little.  Vaughn loosened his embrace, but Sydney was grateful he didn't let go.  She felt safe in his arms, and after this crazy night, that was all she wanted to feel.

"For what?" 

"For not listening to you, for barging in your home like this, for getting you wet," Sydney said.  Vaughn smiled at the last one.  "And I'm sorry if the mission failed because of me."

"Sydney, stop," Vaughn said gently.  "Everything's okay.  The mission was successful."

Sydney looked up at him sharply.  "Please don't say that just to make me feel better."

"I'm telling you this because it's the truth," Vaughn explained.  "SD-6 is gone, it's finished.  Your dad is safe now, Dixon is, too, and I think Sloan's gone for good."

Sydney looked at him with her mouth agape.  She couldn't move as she tried to process what Vaughn just said.

"Sydney?  Sydney?"

"Oh, sorry, it's just that I can't believe –" Sydney stuttered.  "Is Dad really okay? There's no more SD-6?"

Vaughn grinned.  "Believe it.  There's no more SD-6, and as for your dad, he was in a pretty bad shape, but he seemed fine when I talked to him before going home."

Sydney then felt a huge wave of relief and joy wash over her.  She returned Vaughn's grin and threw her arms around him.  "Oh, I can't believe we did it! Everything that could possibly go wrong tonight went wrong, I didn't think we'd be able to do it!"

"But we did," Vaughn said.  "Come on, let's go inside and get you in some dry clothes.  Then I'll tell you all about tonight."

Sydney nodded, and walked with Vaughn towards the house.  Vaughn kept an arm around her and Sydney leaned slightly against him despite the lightness she felt upon learning of SD-6's downfall.  He opened the door carefully, giving Sydney a rueful smile.  "Donovan might get out," he explained.  "But don't you worry about him.  He's a friendly dog."

"I think I kept him all night with all that bell-ringing," Sydney said, following Vaughn inside.  She reached down and gave the dog a pat.  Donovan licked her hand and went back to the foot of the couch, where he was sleeping.

"How long have you been here?" Vaughn asked, quickly shutting the door after Sydney got in.  "I almost went back to the office after leaving Jack."

"I don't know how long," Sydney admitted.  "It seemed forever, but it must have been just a couple of hours."  She turned to him with a look of amusement.  "You were going to the office? Don't you ever go home?"

"Not when you're still MIA," Vaughn admitted.  "But then I realized a lot of things in the office would just remind me of you, and then I'd be miserable and worried…"

"You're worried about me screwing up the job, aren't you?"  Sydney said softly, looking Vaughn straight in the eye.

Vaughn moved closer to Sydney.  "I'm worried about you. Period." He reached out and brushed a wet lock away from her face.  "I hope this won't drive you away, Syd, but I just have to say this.  I care about you.  Not about how well you'd do in a mission, but of course, I always hope your success, but what I'm trying to say is, I really care about you.  I care about you a helluva lot more than I care about a mission."

"Now why would that drive me away?" Sydney asked softly, pressing her face gently on the palm of his hand.  

"Because I have no idea how you feel about me," Vaughn confessed.  "I love you, Sydney.  And you don't have to say I love you back just to avoid hurting my feelings."

Sydney smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.  Vaughn's arms went around her waist and he looked at her for the first time minus the mask he used so often to hide his feelings.  The strong emotions she saw in his eyes took Sydney's breath away.  As Vaughn's face moved closer to hers, Sydney closed her eyes.  Soon she felt his soft lips touch her own tentatively, gently assuring her that all his words were true.  She kissed him back just as gently, before reluctantly withdrawing.

"I'm sorry, Sydney," Vaughn apologized, afraid that he might have offended her.  

Sydney smiled at him and kissed him briefly on the lips to silence him.  "I'm glad I don't have to say I love you back just to not hurt your feelings," Sydney said softly.  "Because I'm saying I love you back because I mean it and because I really feel that."

Vaughn felt his spirit soar miles higher.  Tightening his embrace, he leaned down and kissed her once again.  Sydney returned his kiss, and they stood there, molded against each other's body, until Vaughn reluctantly pulled back.

"Sydney, we have to get you in dry clothes before you get sick," he reminded her.  "I know my stuff are too big for you, but –"

"No, they'll be just fine," Sydney said.  

"If you want, you can take a hot shower before changing," Vaughn offered.  He disappeared in his bedroom for a while, then returned with some clothes.  "The bathroom's yours."

"Thank you, Mike," Sydney replied, using his nickname for the first time.  "You don't mind me calling you that, do you?"

"You can call me anything you want," he grinned.  "Go on, I'll look for something to eat."

Sydney gave him a peck on the cheek before heading to the bathroom.  She quickly got her wet clothes off and stepped into the hot shower.  The water felt good on her tired body, and she sighed in contentedness.  "Thank you, God," she whispered as she turned off the shower.  As much as she wanted to stay in the hot water forever, she knew Mike wanted to shower as well, and she'd rather stay in his arms.  She quickly dried herself and put on his clothes, laughing quietly as the boxers reached her knees and the shirt almost completely covering the shorts.  She fixed her wet clothes, grabbed the disk from her pouch and went out of the bathroom.

"Bathroom's free," Sydney said as she entered his kitchen.  Vaughn had placed several kinds of food on his table, and he chuckled when he saw Sydney standing there in his clothes.  Sydney grinned, and said, "Laugh all you want, but I feel good in them."

"I like you in them, too," Vaughn replied, still not quite believing that this wonderful woman loves him as much as he loves her.  "Eat anything you want."

Sydney nodded and handed him the disk.  "Here it is.  The complete list of SD-6 agents, including their aliases and the missions they had been assigned to."

Vaughn took the disk.  He sighed.  "I'll have to take this to the office right now," he told her.  "But you don't have to come along with me, unless you want to."

"I don't think so," Sydney shook her head, following Vaughn towards the front door.  "I've had enough of CIA and SD-6 tonight."

Vaughn put on his coat.  Pausing by the door, he took Sydney in his arms and kissed her.  "I won't be long," he told her.  "Just make yourself at home, okay? You eat and rest now, you can use my bed, and don't worry about anybody sneaking in.  Donovan's the best burglar alarm in the world."

"I don't doubt that," Sydney smiled.  "Thanks, Mike."

"Wait, there's something I have to tell you," Vaughn said.  "Jack's at the hospital.  He and Dixon got out of the building before the CIA moved in to secure it.  Syd, he was in a pretty bad shape.  Sloan had shot him twice and stabbed him in the back, no pun intended.  They had to do emergency surgery on him, and I was told it took them 2 hours to fix everything.  The doctor says he's going to be okay."

"You even waited for him to come out of the anesthesia?"

"I fell asleep waiting," he admitted sheepishly.  "Weiss woke me up two hours after the surgery."

"And then you talked to him."

"Yeah, he asked about you first," Vaughn told her.  "We didn't know where you were then, but the CIA guys back at the building were able to catch the guys who were running after you.  They said you were running away from the headquarters."

"Dad gave me a note and an address when things began going wrong inside," Sydney said.  "He told me that it was a safe place and that the owner would know how to contact him.  I didn't know then that it was your address.  I ran all the way here."

"That's quite a long run," Vaughn remarked.  "I thought you got my address from the office."  Silently, he thanked Jack for trusting him enough to take care of his daughter.

"He was right, you know," Sydney said.  "I'm safe here and you were able to contact him before I even asked you to."

"And he repeatedly reassured me at the hospital that he knows where you are and that you are safe," Vaughn told her.  "After Weiss told us that they were pretty sure you got away, Jack immediately told me that you're okay."  

He kissed her again before going out.  Sydney watched him as he drove off, feeling safe in his home not just because Donovan is there.  She got down on her knees and rubbed him behind the ears.  Then she went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

"This guy needs someone to take care of him," Sydney murmured as she checked out the assortment of junk food and candies. She smiled and felt warm all over as she realized that she would be that someone.  Getting one of the Snickers bars, Sydney began to munch on it as she looked around Vaughn's house.  Donovan had gone back to his place at the foot of the couch, and Sydney smiled and decided not to disturb him.  Finishing the chocolate bar, she threw the wrapper in the trash can and drank half a glass of milk before heading back to the bathroom.

She found a new toothbrush in his medicine cabinet.  After brushing her teeth, she went into the bedroom and turned on the TV.  Deciding to watch a replay of the tonight's game between the Sacramento Kings and the LA Lakers, Sydney settled on the bed and resolved to wait for Vaughn.  

*****

"Hey, Mike, you're back soon," Weiss greeted him.  He noticed a change in Vaughn's disposition.  "What happened?"

"I need to go to Devlin's office now," Vaughn told him.  Together, they walked towards the CIA director's office.  

"Here's the disk," Vaughn said, barging into the office and handing over the disk.

Devlin was surprised.  "How did you get it?"

"Agent Bristow gave it to me," Vaughn replied.  "She met with me after I left the hospital where her father is."

"Is all right?"

Vaughn nodded.  

"Good job," Devlin acknowledged, taking the disk.  "I'll take it from here."

Vaughn thanked him and left to office with Weiss.  "She's with you, isn't she?" Weiss asked.

"Jack gave her my address," Vaughn confessed.

Weiss grinned.  "Good move," he said.  "Now that's why he was so sure she was all right."

Vaughn entered his office and grabbed his car keys.  "Yeah."

"So finally you can go home now," Weiss said.  "Thought I'd have to drug you to get you to rest."

Vaughn nodded with a smile, walking past his friend.  "See you later, Eric.  Thanks." 

Weiss just returned his smile, himself relieved that Sydney's accounted for and safe.  And that finally, she and Mike could get together.

******

Vaughn arrived at his house several minutes later.  After locking the door and greeting his dog, he went to his room, where he heard the TV on.  He smiled when he found Sydney asleep on the bed, still clutching the remote.

He got some clothes and took a quick shower.  The sound of the shower awakened Sydney, and she smiled at him when he entered the room.

"Sorry I woke you up," Vaughn apologized, sitting at the edge of the bed.

"I was going to wait for you but I must've dozed off," Sydney said.  "Where's the disk now?"

"I gave it to Devlin," Vaughn told her.

"Good," Sydney nodded.  

"Well, I better let you get some rest," Vaughn said, standing up.  "I'll go take the couch."

"Don't go," Sydney called, sitting up and reaching for his hand.  "Stay with me."

Vaughn smiled and allowed Sydney to pull him into the bed beside her.  He drew her in his arms and kissed her softly.  "Goodnight, Sydney," he murmured, his lips still brushing hers.  "I love you."

"I love you back, Mike," Sydney replied, cuddling closer to him.  With their arms intimately wrapped around each other, Sydney fell asleep almost immediately.  Vaughn watched her for a while, and then kissed Sydney on the forehead before closing his eyes and succumbing to sleep.

Fin

**_Post-Script:_**_ This is my first ALIAS fic, what do you think? I apologize for the inaccuracies, but I've only seen five episodes of ALIAS (that's how far behind we are in my part of the world). Please review (here or through email at sidlestokes@yahoo.com). Thanks! Hope you like it!_


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